If you're someone who needs a cup of coffee to get going in the morning, there's good news. According to a study presented at the annual American Society for Nutrition meeting, getting your caffeine fix can actually help you age better. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed or published, is the culmination of 30 years of research.
The findings were presented by Dr. Sara Mahdavi, a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, and an adjunct professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Nutritional Sciences. The study, which began in the early 1980s, followed nearly 50,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study. The health and dietary data of these 47,513 women was collected for three decades, giving rare insight into the aging process.
Along the way, the women were asked about their caffeine intake, and specifically, how much coffee they were drinking. In 2016, when the women were in their 70s, the researchers identified a smaller group of 3,706 who met the criteria for “healthy aging.” Surprisingly, in this group, the women had typically consumed three small cups of coffee (or one and a half large cups by today’s standards) a day from ages 45 to 60. Of the women in the healthy group, each additional cup of coffee per day improved their health, increasing their chances of doing well later in life by 2% to 5%.
“These results, while preliminary, suggest that small, consistent habits can shape long-term health,” shares Dr. Mahdavi. “Moderate coffee intake may offer some protective benefits when combined with other healthy behaviors such as regular exercise, a healthy diet, and avoiding smoking. While this study adds to prior evidence suggesting coffee intake may be linked with healthy aging, the benefits from coffee are relatively modest compared to the impact of overall healthy lifestyle habits and warrant further investigation.”
Interestingly, the researchers found no strong link between tea or decaffeinated coffee consumption and aging well. And while soda is also a source of caffeine, the data showed that each small glass of soda was associated with a 20% to 26% lower chance of healthy aging.
With this data in mind, researchers will now begin investigating how specific compounds in coffee interact with genetic and metabolic aging markers, particularly in women. Understanding these mechanisms could then unlock a new world of personalized medicine for longevity and cognitive health.
However, if you think this is a good excuse to increase your coffee intake, the researchers caution that, in general, up to two cups of coffee per day should be safe and potentially beneficial for most people. After that, some people might benefit, but others could react poorly. So, moderation is key. Still, when you pour your morning coffee, you can feel good about its long-term effects.
A new study has linked coffee consumption to healthy aging, particularly in women.
Source: Brewed for longevity: drinking coffee linked with healthy aging in women
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